Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128232
Hod g s on bo d y E n g lish, p eep ing the o p p os ite way r o u n d t h e f a i r in g to counter th e wh eelie it'll try to p u ll o n y ou - a n d ju st re v e l in th at fantastic ac cel eration , a s the rear Mi ch e l in b ites into th e ta rm ac. Ser iou sly fast. T he 999 F 03 really is so me S uper bike pa ck ag e, a twin- cylin d er racerw ith-li ghts certa in to ha v e the beatin g o f man y ( m o st?) o pen -class M ot oGP co n t e n de rs, y et o ne wh i ch anyo ne w ith th e m on ey and th e right con nect ions will be a b le to buy a nd race next Thoug h m ore angular than its ancestors, the 999 projects a slim frontal appearance that is also more menacing. se ason in rep li c a fo rm. Full m ark s to Su zu k i for c ha llenging th e domi na nce of this fi ne motor cycl e and a tte m pt i ng t o k e ep t he W o rld Sup erbik e Ch amp ionsh ip o u t Oh lins forks left Cathcart with nothing to complain about, and the 305mm Brembo radial brakes were a point of praise. of It al y and in the Land o f the Rising Sun for on e m ore y ea r. Cl o se , but no ~ c ig a r .. . TECHNICAL: 5JDD ©DDCiJDDrfl@ - - - the engine is spinning that h ard an d ch anges t he int ernal gea r rati os - why no undue vi bration of any kind to g ive bother , with such a fl ex ibl e m ot or? - you a re minder it m ight b e. T ap th e it's n o t i c e abl e t h a t the F 0 3 was r a c e -p att ern p o w er sh i f t e r - a b it geared p ret ty h i g h , m a k in g a 100 a b rupt for m y tastes , not as sm ooth mph b ott om gea r a lmost a certa in ty as t he one on G reg 's Suz u ki - once w it h such a w ide spread of po w er. He th e rea do ut ge ts nea r t he 13 ,50 0 uses j ust th e b o t t o m fi v e gea rs a t m a rk ( w h ic h I fo u n d late r is wh ere Misa no , a n d a fte r ex pe r i me n t i ng I N e il als o c ha nges up ) , and you' re fou n d it was b etter to short-sh ift at rewarded w ith half-an -o c t av e c h ange aro u n d I 1, 50 0 r p m in f o u r t h just in t he exhau st note and just as muc h before th e last of t he three left -ha n - power an d torque as you h ad b efo re . d e rs leading onto the m a in straigh t , Im press ive . w h ich m ad e the Duc ati run a t ig ht er The D uc ati 's gea rbox is as smooth l ine th r ou gh it , p u lli ng hard . T hen as d o lcelett e, eve n ch ang i ng f r o m brak e ha rd a nd bac k dow n thro ugh second t o bottom as I ini t ia lly d id t he gears from t h e ISO -meter m a r k when b raki ng hard into t he pair of for th e l BO-d eg ree left at t h e end o f ch icanes at M isano , w ithout a hint th e stra ight, pull it up proper ly before t hat y ou 're passing t h ro ug h neu t ra l as you get too en t h u siast ic with the right you h and , try t o co py th e tr ad emark do so. Th ou gh N eil n e v er CN European editor Alan Cathcart receives a ri ding t ip from the new Worl d Superblk e Champion, Neil Hodgson. " It's li ke this , mate: Hold on really , really tightl" Whereas the 9 16 that took Carl Fogarty to the first of his four world ti tles for Ducati back in 1994, and which the 998 that won the Manufacturers worl d crown in 2002 was dir ect ly descended from , was the creation of a design genius name d Massim o Ta mburini, the 999 which supplanted it was conceive d by his successo r as Ducati 's chie f progett sta, Pierre i Terb lanche, then transforme d into a Superbike racer at the same time as it was working on the V4 desmosedici MotoGP co ntender. The two new·for -2003 Duca ti racebik es thus grew up together side by side and spun off design solutions one to th e other. Th e 999 F03 's 104 x 58 .8mm 90 -degree desmo V-twin Testastretta engine is a direct desce ndant of th e m otor in last yea r's 99 B F02 (as raced this season by HM Plant's James Tosela nd and Chri s Walker ), but with mo dified camshafts, tita nium valves and Pank l conrods and revi sed mapping for th e single- injec to r Marelli EFl , aim ed at improving low- down performance as well as deli vering a li ttle more peak power, now up to 189 bhp at 12,500 rpm. Th is is delivered court esy of the 60m m th rottl e bodies hom ologated as a ki t part (the stoc k 999 uses 54mm ones, and had the restrictor rule gone ahead, as a twin the Ducati would have been for ced to wear 50mm intake restrictors next season) , along with an ultratr ick all- titanium tubo ne (as in "big tube"l) 2- 1-2 · 1 exhaust, up to 65 m m in diam eter com pared to last year's 60mm system, and with th e twin end pipes runn ing into a single t it an ium -wrap under-s eat T ermi gnoni sile ncer, which must feature extensive interna l baffling to allow such a meaty exhaust to beat the noise poli ce. Th e large radiator, which features an offset slot for the front cy linder to poke thr ough , incorpo rates a trienqul ar-sheped oil cooler in its lower section, as well as an airduct to the right of the cylinder head that feeds cool air to th e rear cylinder 's upper camdrive . That's because the short-strok e engine is now revv ing so hard that the belts can overheat and stretch, altering the valve ti mi ng . Th e ca rbo n fib er airbo x and inl et du ct s have been redesigned, in accordance with the new 999 styli ng, which has been wind -tunnel developed for racing by Br itish F 1 aerody namics guru Ala n J enkins, creator of the desmosedici V4 Ducati's Cagiva V594 -inspired bodywork . The result has been a bike that is slim mer and more svelte than the 998 with the rider in place, which is all tha t really counts. However, the original riding position that both riders appea red with in the opening roun d at Valenci a, whereby a 25mm -plus seat pad ja cked them higher in the air to loa d up the front end m ore with th eir body weight , has since been scrappe d - report edly on the insistence of th e Ducati marketing departm ent. The 999's all-new tubu lar-steel Verlicch i spaceframe was or igina lly braced wit h a pair of stregthening tubes running parallel to the bottom of the fuel tank on each side, in a misguided attempt to stiffe n the frame. Only one thing wrong: It mad e it too stiff, and after a sequ ence of crashes suffered by both rid ers without an y warning (a probl em also encountered by Troy Bay liss last season, for the same reason, which ultimately cost him the World titl e after his penu ltimate-round get-off at Assen), thi s was rem ov ed and the open frame ends plugged with carbon caps . As Col in Edw ards proved by winning the Superbike cro wn last season on a Honda whose prev iously ultrastiff fra me had been deliberately tu rned int o a flexi -fly er, riders need a bik e that "ta lks" to them , and the looser frame Hodgson has raced through the season has said all the right thin gs. Th is has the same adjustable steering head angle as before, ranging from 23.5 to 24.5 degrees, with Hodgson invariably running the wider rake with lots of trail (aro und 1OOmm), in order to gain stability under brak ing - same reason he lik es the longer part -cast, part -fabrica ted co n ventional swingarm design now used on the 999, ope rat ing an Oh lin s shoc k and repl acing the 99B's tradema rk monobraccia single-sided swingarm. Th is still pivots in the engine crankcase as well as the chassis, and though Ducati claim s there's provision for the position to be altered, it doesn't appear to have a very great range of adj ustment. and in any case it owns up to having had no tim e to experiment with this. Next winter, m a ybe .. . The 999 F03's 43mm TIN -coated Ohli ns forks run quite a stiff spring to avoid botto m ing out under heavy brak ing . with a 52 percent / 4B percent weight distribution, which is high er th an before for a Ducati V-twin - one reason for the radiator being wrapped round the front cyl inder, since the eng ine is as far forward in the chassis as possible without the forks touching it under heavy brakin g. That co mes co urtesy on Neil Hodgson's bik e of Brembo four-pot radially mounted calipers gripping a pair of 305m m ventil ated steel discs - th e largest diam ete r aut o-co oled rot ors th e Italian brak e spec ialists hav e ava ilable , which Neil opts for to avoid overheating and subsequent brak e fade, and also have the side benefi t of redu ced gyrosc opi c effec t co mpared to the conventional unventilated 320m m discs Ruben Xaus opts for . Ther e's a 2 18mm rear disc which Ruben uses harder than Neil, and Miche lin has now standa rdized 16.5-inch rubber at both ends, with the rear of the two Marchesini wheels employing a 6.25 -inch rim at every track . An important spinoff from the Fila-sponsored Ducati factory team 's unstoppable ma rch toward its 10th world title for the Italian marqu e is the development of the first customer version of the new bik e: Expect the 999 RS World Championship replica to be available for purchase by privatee r teams for 2004 to be closely based on the curre nt 999 F03. cu e I e n e vv so S E PT EM B ER 1 7, 2003 47